Lauren Clay: Kali in her arsenal at twilight

Time Equities Inc. Art-in-Buildings is pleased to announce the newest exhibition at the West 10th Window: Lauren Clay, Kali in her arsenal at twilight.

Lauren Clay’s installation, Kali in her arsenal at twilight, is a writhing abstract form that references the many-armed deities of Hinduism, primarily Durga and Kali – fierce, powerful, weapon-wielding goddesses. Clay arms the abstracted body of Kali with ambiguous weapons that resemble knives, clubs, a screw, and a phallus, but that are also imperfect, do not appear capable of causing harm, and are obviously fragile. Trapped in the vitrine-like glass box of the West 10th Window, the sculpture is further incapacitated and Kali’s flailing arms are rendered impotent.

Clay roots her work in a subversive occupation of art history, recreating monumental sculptures as tiny and fragile works in psychedelic paper, and inflating iconic works of minimalism into puffy forms of limp plaster. In Kali, Clay employs color to aid in her dismantling of the canon. The white plaster sculpture, however entrapped, stands out powerfully against the electric blue depths of the space. Blues of this shade are loaded with references to eminent works, including royalty in Western Old Master paintings and the void in Yves Klein’s monochromes. Not merely a response to art history, Kali is part of a new body of work that Clay developed, having sufficiently undermined the rhetoric of virility in twentieth century American art. Her latest works move away from the destruction of masculine archetypes, and into an embrace of feminine strength. Kali in her arsenal at twilight is a robust response to the current political climate, championing powerful women and those who are newly finding their voice and determination to bang on the walls of power until they break.

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Lauren Clay is an artist from Atlanta, GA. She currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her site-specific installation, The Cithara and the Aulos is currently on view at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Recent projects include solo exhibitions at Savannah College of Art and Design, and Grounds for Sculpture, NJ. In 2016, her artist book, Subtle Body, was published by Small Editions, NY. Recent group exhibitions include Monochromatic at Asya Geisberg Gallery, NY, Quite Fairly Rather at Topless Gallery, New York and Shroom Show at Helper Gallery, Brooklyn. Clay’s work has been written about in the New York Times, Bomb Magazine, and Art in America.

Next up at the West 10th Window: Kirsten Hassenfeld and Robbin Deyo.

For press inquiries please contact: Monique Peterson, QUINN | mpeterson@quinn.pr | 212.868.1900 x387

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The West 10th Street Window is curated by Natalie Diaz and Jennie Lamensdorf and is sponsored by the Time Equities Inc. (TEI) Art-in-Buildings Program. TEI is committed to enriching the experience of our properties through the Art-in-Buildings Program, an innovative approach that brings contemporary art by emerging and mid-career artists to non-traditional exhibition spaces in the interest of promoting artists, expanding the audience for art, and creating a more interesting environment for our building occupants, residents, and their guests.